Field
The present disclosure relates to a mower and swathing unit. In particular but not exclusively it relates to a plain mower having a plurality of rotary cutter heads for cutting a crop and a swathing unit for forming the cut crop into a swath for collection.
Certain Related Art
A known mower has a plurality of rotating cutter heads, a conditioning unit and a swathing unit comprising an auger device that brings the cut material together into a swath that is deposited on the ground for drying and collecting. The conditioning unit comprises a rotating bar equipped with a plurality of flail arms that crush and bruise the stalks of the crop to aid wilting. The conditioning unit is located immediately behind the cutter heads and rotates upwards (that is, the front part of the conditioning unit in the mowing direction rotates upwards) to carry the cut crop upwards and over the rotary axis of the conditioning unit.
The auger is located behind the conditioning unit and has a helical flighting that transports the cut crop towards one end of the mower to form a swath that is narrower than the full width of the mower. The auger is enclosed within a housing having an opening at one end through which the swath passes. The auger rotates upwards and the cut crop passes over the rotary axis of the auger.
If a narrow swath is not required a guide plate in the upper part of the housing may be opened to allow the cut material to pass over the top of the auger and fall onto the ground without being formed into a swath. This results in wide spreading of the cut crop, which allows the material to dry more rapidly. Once the material has dried it can be raked into a swath and collected in a conventional manner.
The known mower can therefore be configured to produce either wide spreading of the crop for fast drying or a narrow swath for easier collection. However, the machine can only be configured to produce either a narrow swath or wide spreading of the crop—it is not possible to adjust the width of the swath according to the quantity of the cut crop material and other factors such as its moisture content.
As previously mentioned, the known mower includes a conditioning unit between the rotary cutter heads and the auger. As well as conditioning the cut crop, the conditioning unit also picks up the cut crop from the cutter heads and transfers it to the auger. However, conditioning is not always required and driving a conditioner requires a high power input (typically about 50% of the total power requirement for a combined mower/conditioner). In a plain mower the conditioning unit is omitted to reduce the cost and the power consumption of the machine. This also allows a smaller and less powerful tractor to be used.
In the known mower, the cut crop is lifted over the rotary axes of the conditioning unit and the auger. Lifting a heavy crop continuously requires a significant input of energy, which reduces the efficiency of the machine. Other prior art mowers are also known in which the auger rotates downwards so that the crop passes beneath the auger.